VINTNERS RUSH TO PROCESS STATE'S EARLY GRAPE HARVEST.

Byline: Associated Press 

Pickers, truckers and crushers are working around the clock to handle this year's early wine harvest, the result of an unusually long, warm summer and last weekend's heat wave.

Truckers carrying loads of grapes are taking to the highways throughout the wine country, where they will deliver tens of thousands of tons from fields to fermenting tanks in hundreds of wineries during the next two weeks.

The $400 million harvest is reaching its peak several weeks earlier than normal.

Traditional wisdom says that could compromise the quality of the wines eventually produced. While some winemakers say this year's grapes have good sugar-acid balance and wonderful flavor, most are withholding judgment until the wine starts taking shape in the cellar.

``The sugars are high and the acids are low. The jury is still out on quality because we haven't had the long hang time in the vineyards that have characterized other vintage years,'' said Ed Killian, winemaker at Chateau Souverain in Geyserville.

Alexander Valley Vineyards, also in Geyserville, has finished harvesting its white wine grapes already and is moving on to its merlot. Chateau Souverain is crushing some cabernet sauvignon today, a varietal that usually doesn't ripen until October.

The harvest usually lasts through October, but a number of winemakers say they could be done by early October if the weather stays warm. By contrast, last year's unusually late harvest stretched into November.

Growers and winemakers began picking in earnest last weekend when a heat wave that brought 100-degree temperatures sent grape sugars soaring. Grapes should be picked when they reach the optimum sugar-acid balance to produce premium wines.

Harvesting actually began a month ago with champagne grapes, which are picked at lower sugar levels. But the frenzy normally sets in when wine grapes mature.

Crushers breathed a sigh of relief this week when cooler temperatures helped slow the ripening to a more even pace, relieving some of the chaos for the overwhelmed crushers.

Yields are down 10 to 20 percent this year because of rains during the critical bloom period last spring and damaging heat spells this summer, growers said.

Regardless, the harvest of '96 is expected to be the most valuable crop in North Coast history because grapes are bringing in record prices.

Wineries are paying $2,000 a ton for top varietals because of the strong demand for wine. That is expected to push retail wine prices up.

Agriculture officials estimate 17 percent of the Sonoma County grape crop has been harvested already.

This year's Sonoma County grape crop is expected to be between 140,000 and 144,000 tons, similar to last year's despite hundreds of new acres in production.

The record yield was in 1994, when growers harvested 153,000 tons.